I am going to be an aunt.

I found out today that I am going to aunt, again. My brother and his wife are pregnant. To be honest I am a little jealous. They have 2 daughters and were not planning on having any more children. We are waiting patiently for our daughter and wish we had some kind of word about when she was coming home. At least it will give me something to look forward to while we wait. I will keep you posted.

Tracey

Disney pictures

Here are some pictures I promised.

We're Back

Well I know I have not been blogging much recently but we have been crazy busy. With the start of school and then in the beginning of September I went to Las Vegas for work. I had a great time there. Work sent me there to learn how to do 3rd trimester ultrasounds. The conference was wonderful and I learned alot and am very excited about learning how to do ultrasounds at work. Eventhough I was there for work we found plenty of time to enjoy the Las Vegas scene. We saw some shows and ate at some very nice restaurants and did some shopping. (I won't bore you with all the details) This may come to a shock to some of you but we did not gamble at all!!! (My mother is disowning me for this.) We had a great time. However on the way back we had a layover in Charlotte N.C. and while we were there we found out our flight to Cincinnati was cancelled due to a wind storm (remenants of a hurricane) There were winds up to 80 miles per hour at home so we had to spend the night in Charlotte without our luggage I might add. When we got home on Monday night I came home to all of the Northern Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana were without power. We had no electric till Thursday. Luckily my inlaws and my parents got power before we did so we were able to stay with them.
Then on Saturday we left for Disney World on a family vacation. This included me, AJ, my boys, my brother and his wife and there 2 daughters and my parents. We had a wonderful time in Disney we were there for a week. If anyone goes to Disney September is the perfect time to go. It is a little warm but the crowds are wonderful. We hardly waited in any lines there was no need for the fast pass. Some rides we were able to ride 2-3 times. We had to take the kids out of school which I said I would never do but for Disney it is worth it. I don't think I could ever go and wait hours in line knowing that in September there is no lines.
So anyway we are back home and getting back into our routine of school and work. I am catching up on everyones blogs and will hopefully be able to post more. I will some Disney pictures soon.
Update on our adoption process. We submitted an application for special needs. We said we would accept a minor special need. With the way the wait is getting longer and longer it was looking like we could be waiting like 10 years so we wanted to do anything to bring her home sooner. There are some seriously ill and disabled children waiting and I comment those families for accepting those children into there home. It takes a great deal of commitment to care for a child with those type of special needs but we thought we would not be able to handle a severly handicapped child at this point in our lives but we could handle a minor correctable special need. So we submitted our application, However it almost causes me more anxiety wondering of we will get a call soon or not. But this is were we are.
Hope everyone has a wonderfull weekend.

Summer's over

I can't believe it. Summer is over. Today was Jackson's first day back to school. My how time flew by. It is hard to believe my baby is in the second grade. We walked him in to his classroom but I know soon he will be "too big" and will ask me not to walk him in any more. I really am not lookng forward to school starting. I enjoy doing things with my kids during the summer and feel like I did not get enough time. Anyway now we are back to the daily routines and homework. Jackson is excited to see his freinds again and is likes his new teacher. Colby will start preschool in September.

New Discovery

I went to the grocery today and when I was checking out I handed the cashier the reusable grocery bags and I see her ringing something up and I think she is charging me. Since I had already bought the bags at a previous shopping trip I was going to be mad if I was going to be charged to use them. Well she informed me that I got FIVE cents OFF of my order for EACH bag that I used. That was the best news I had heard in a long time. I have been trying for the past couple of years to be more environmentally friendly and sometimes it is hard because I am also cheap so I was really glad to get my .20 cents off my order.I would like for people to share ways that they are being envionmentally friendly and I will post them on my site.

Here are some of the thinks I have started doing.

1. Of course I participate in city recycling.
2. My sons school recycles paper so I save paper and and take to the school and it is also a fundraiser for the school.
3. I save plastic shopping bags and other plastic wrap the take it to Kroger (our local grocery store) and they recycle plactic bags
4. I gave up my windex and use white vingegar and water instead (1/4 vinegar & 3/4 water) love it. Actually cleans better.
Please let me know of the things you guys are doing too. If it saves me money I will love it even better.

Comment Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband AJ. His birthday was on the the 19th and he turned 36 years old. I hope he had a wonderful birthday and has a wonderful year to come. Love you AJ.

Rain Rain Go Away

Yesterday my friend Missy took Jackson, Colby and Carter to Coney Island. Coney is a small amusement park. It has a lot of kiddie rides and a few bigger rides. It is a perfect place for kids at the ages our children are. We had a great time even thought it poured down rain most of the day. We were dealing ok until Jackson and I had just got on a roller coaster and it started pouring down rain. We got soaked. The rain was getting in my eyes and drying out my contacts, I couldn't see a thing. The kids had a great time and thought riding rides in the rain was cool. The rain finally stopped about 2:00 but by that time us mom's were wore out. I came home and took a nap.

Mammoth Cave

We just got home from camping at Mammoth Cave this weekend. We had a wonderful time. The boys LOVED camping. We went with our friend Jim and Missy and their son Carter. They have a nice camper that we all stayed in. The boys liked it so much they were begging us to buy one when we got home. The weather wasn't so great. It poured down rain Thursday and Friday but warmed up and the sun came out on Saturday. We took a tour of Mammoth Cave on Friday. The boys thought it "cool". I have seen everything on this tour before but continue to be amazed by it. On Saturday we took a boat tour of a cave with a river running through it. We actually got on a boat and took a short boat ride into the cave. It was not as cool as Mammoth cave but it was neet. Before the boat ride we took little hike near the cave and saw what they called "blue holes". This is where the underwater river comes the the surface. Evidently the water was suppose to be a pretty shade of blue but due to all of the rain it was a beautiful shade of mud.
Colby was not very cooperative this weekend with the pictures. Whenever I wanted him to get it a picture he refused. So we would have to trick him into getting his picture taken. It was hard getting pictures in the cave. When you looked through the camera all you could see was black so you had to wait for the flash. You never knew what kind of picture you would get.
Then to finish off the weekend many cars got broken into on Saturday night. Well of course we did not have our car locked so we got our sunglasses stolen, my and Jackson's wallet, our portable dvd player. Jackson was so upset. He of course had more money than me. He recieved a $50 bill for his birthday and had been saving it since may for a game. He kept asking me why someone would do that. I tried to explain to him that it was just money and objects and there is many more important things and we were grateful that noone was hurt but I don't think he felt better.
We had a wonderfull weekend spending it with friends. Back to work tomorrow.

Happy Fourth of July

Wishing everyone a Happy Fourth a few days early. We are going out of town for the weekend. We are going camping to Mammoth Cave. The boys are both finally old enough to go camping. We are going with our good friends Jim and Missy and their son Carter. Carter and Colby are one month apart and are the best of friends. I am really looking forward to this trip. I will have many pictures to share.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hello Everyone

Hello everyone. I got got a virus on my computer and haven't had access for weeks. I haven't been able to check up on everyone. We had to totally rebuild our computer. I lost everything. All the files I had saved, all my pictures, every program needs to be reloaded and boy I didn't realize how depended on my computer I am. Well we are back and running and getting back on our feet and I will be catching up with everyone.

Still 2 years

Well we have been waiting now for 6 months. It has been almost a year since we started the adoption process and yet we still have 2 years to wait. I feel like a broken record. With the 30 month wait time now we still have 2 years. See my original post. I get sick to my stomach when I think about it. To make things worse we got a letter this week from our home study agency stating that they were ending their adoption program as of June 30. Our social worker will now longer be employed at the agency. The letter stated that they will finish our adoption process by an "employee of the agency." What does that mean? I do not want a new social worker the one we had was wonderful. She is an adoptive mother and also a birth mother. She has worked for this agency for 20 years and they are throwing her out with any severance pay or anything. What a thanks for her years of dedication and the hundreds of families she has brought together. I don't know if we are going to have to find a new agency. The next closest home study agency is in Lexington or Louisville which is an hours drive from here. Our agency now is literally 2 minutes away. I don't know how I can bear this for another 2 years.

Summer is Here!!

I am so excited. It is finally summer. The boys are out of school. It has stopped raining and of course went from 60 degrees to 90 in a day, but this is typical Cincinnati weather. My flowers are in full bloom. I have so many plans for the summer. We are going camping Fourth of July weekend to Mammoth cave with our really good friends. I can't wait. We went to the park today. We took a bike ride at Lunken Airport on Memorial Day. Lunken is really cool. It is concrete trail that circles a small airport so while you are biking, roller skating, running etc there are planes taking off and landing around you. I am so glad to have time doing things with the boys and not have school to worry about. The boys are a good age now, 7&4. Colby is big enough now to do alot of things we couldn't do just last year. I don't feel like I have to keep them within arms length in case they get lost. I am going to try and enjoy every minute because before you know it school will start again.

Emergency!!!

Today we noticed SHE had gotten her foot stuck in her cage and evidently chewed her nail off. She seemed to fine so I just let it go. She is just a bird. I went to pick up Jackson from school and when we got home there was blood everywhere in her cage. I seemed like alot of blood for a little bird. I called the vet and they told me to bring her in right away. Jackson heard me talking to the vet and saw the blood. Eventhought I tried to stay calm Jackson knew I was worried and he almost began to cry and asked if Jade was going to be ok (Jackson is a very sensitive kid) I wasn't sure. It seemed like alot of blood for a little bird.


We rushed to the vet. It turns out Jade pulled the nail out and didn't chew her toe off. They were able to stop the bleeding and put the cutest bandage on her foot I have ever seen. Her nail should grow back just fine. (If it doesn't we will have to amputate her toe.) But all is fine.

Happy Memorial Day

Hope everyone is having a happy memorial day weekend, no big plans this weekend. We are just spending the day at home with the kids having a little cook out. I am grateful to all the troops fighting for our country. I do not have anyone personally fighting but hope that everyone's loved one make it home safely. Have a wonderful Day.

I need help!!!

Has anyone seen the musical wicked. I had heard about it and heard it was good but didn't really think it would be that good. Who care about witches. The story is about the withches from the Wizard of Oz. Back in January Wicked came to Arronff Center in Cincinnati. I started volunteering there this year as an usher so I could see the shows for free. Anyone Wicked was one of shows. I ushered it 3 times and I have fallen in LOVE. Then I found out that it lives in Chicago and we were planning a trip for the East meets West adoption conference. So I quickly bought tickets. Before we went to Chicago I bought the CD and listened to it frequently. The show in Chicago was wonderful!! The Oriental Theatre is georgeous!! I have become totally obsessed. I listen to the CD all the time. I have the music playing in my head all the time. I put the music on my blog. Hope everyone enjoys it. I almost feel like I am going thru withdrawal.

I know it sounds crazy. If you haven't seen it, you must. It is a wonderful story. It is a story about frienship, betrayal, loyalty, standing up for what you believe in, it is a love story. Not to mention the music is wonderful. If you are a Wizard of Oz fan it explains alot about the movie. The picuture that I have included are my favorite part of the musical when Elphaba (The wicked witch of the west) learns to fly. Listen the the song Defy Gravity, this is what she is singing while she is flying(literally above the stage). I don't want to give away the story because I want you to enjoy it for yourself. So if it comes to your city even if you don't care for musicals I promise you will like it, you may even love it like me.

Baby steps

We found out today that our dossier has been translated and has joined the group of dossiers that is pending review. This may seem sort of little but with the ever lengthening wait and uncertainty I would like to celebrate the baby steps through this process. I hope we make it through the review process without any problems.

Let it go!!

I copied this from someone else page. I holeheartedly agree. We can't live in the past. People are part of our lives for a reason, some are meant to stay forever and some are meant to only pass by quickly. However long they are in your life they had an impact on you and shaped you into the person you are today.


By T. D. Jakes



There are people who can walk away from you.
And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk.


I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.


When people can walk away from you, let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.


The Bible said that,"they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]


People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.


Let them go.


And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person, it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead.


You've got to know when it's over.


Let me tell you something... I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat, I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.


Let them go!!


If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to......


LET IT GO!!!


If you are holding on to past hurts and pains .......


LET IT GO!!!



If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth.....

LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge.....

LET IT GO!!!


If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction......

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents ......

LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude......

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better.....


LET IT GO!!!
If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him.....


LET IT GO!!!


If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship.....

LET IT GO!!!


If you're feeling depressed and stressed ......

LET IT GO!!!


If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying 'take your hands off of it,' then you need to......

LET IT GO!!!


Let the past be the past. Forget the former things. GOD is doing a new thing for 2008!!!

LET IT GO!!!


Get Right or Get Left. Think about it, and then.....
LET IT GO!!!
The Battle is the Lord's !

Special Delivery

We had a very special delivery today. My husband found a bunnies nest in our back yard while he was cutting the grass. They were the cutest little bunnies you have ever seen. The boys were able to hold one of them. The problem is we have not seen the mommy bunny and I am worried she will not come back since we have handled them. So I may have just become the mother to 3 baby bunnies. Baby humans I can deal with but I don't know the first thing about baby bunnies. Look at the picture closely there are 3 baby bunnies in this little hole in the ground. It really is amazing.

Comment Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

Happy Mother's Day. Hope everyone has a wonderful mothers day whether you are a mother already or you have a mother. Being a mother is the most wonderful thing I have ever accomplished. You can't appreciated what your mother did for you until you become a mother yourself. Boy do i appreciate everythine my mother has done for me.

Butterfly show

On Sunday we went to the Khron Conservatory in Cincinnati for the butterfly show. Every year they bring in Butterfly cocoon's from all over the world and incubate them and hatch them and then put them on display. This year the butterflies were from China. It is really cool. You go into this large greenhouse like building with all kinds of flowers and decorations and the live butterflies fly around you and land on you and you are able to hold them. It is really cool. There was many displays about Chinese culture. Fans, bonsai trees, silk worms, embroidery etc. It was really cool.
Along with the butterflies we also so alot of ladybugs. With every ladybug siting I wished that some else recieved their referral.
They also had a Prayer Tree. The Chinese believe that trees are where heaven and earth touch.
This is why they are concidered excellent places for prayers and requests to be made. Prayers, offerings and requests are written on a piece of woven cloth such as cotton or ribbon. I made and wish for our baby and the babies of all of our new friends to come home quickly.
The kids had a great time holding the butterflies and making butterfly masks.

Gas Tips

I copied this from someone elses page but I thought it had some good points and the tips seemed valid. The price of gas is really starting to hurt our pocketbook and I am going to pay more attention which gas stations I fill up at.
TIPS ON PUMPING/SAVING GAS I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in , we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps. When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor.Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine.Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount. Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--mostlikely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered,and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.Hope this will help you get the most value for your money. DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS! WHERE TO BUY GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of . Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil. Thesecompanies do import Middle Eastern oil: Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrelsChevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels Exxon /Mobil...............130,082,000 barrels Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrelsAmoco...........................62,231,000 barrels Citgo gas is from South America , from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now$90 - $100 a barrel Here are some large companies that do not importMiddle Eastern oil: Sunoco..................0 barrelsConoco..................0 barrels Sinclair.................0 barrelsB P/Phillips............0 barrels Hess.......................0 barrelsARC0....................0 barrels If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you. All of this informationis available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do. Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to atleast ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREEMILLION consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it .....THREE HUND RED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take?

I Can't wait til summer.

I have spring fever something terrible. I can't wait for school to be over. I am so tired of doing homework. I love this time year when the flowers start blooming. The boys have started playing baseball again. This is Colby's first year playing T-ball. I haven't seen him play but he looks so cute. AJ said he did really well his first game except he got mad when he didn't get to catch all of the balls. Jackson's first game is this weekend. Our Saturday's are going to be dedicated to baseball games for the next six weeks. It will be fun watching them play. I have more fun watching them than I ever did playing myself.

Our Trip to Chicago

Last weekend we attended the East meets West adoption conference in Chicago. We attended some interesting seminars and learned a lot of new information. I was amazed to learn that there are many orphanges in China that do not participate in international adoption. However the Chinese goverment is working with these orphanges and teaching the paperwork and how they can get their children ready for adoption. I also learned that there are many children that are abandoned in hospitals and doctors are not required to take these babies to orphanages. The doctors usually just find someone to take the baby themselves.

We meet some wonderful people. We met people with the same LID. We meet a wonderful couple Kristy and Frank Rodriguez. They have been waiting for their daughter Francesca for 24 months. They gave us alot of great advise and I am sure they will be bringing their daughter home soon. We met Snow Wu who is the owner of Great Wall Adoption Agency. She is well respected in the adopion community in both the U.S. and in China and we are very glad we chose her agency and feel confident in the agencies abilities to bring our daughter home to us.

We also saw some sites of Chicago. We went to see Wicked at Ford's Oriental Theatre. It was absolutely wonderful. We ate at Allehamba's restaraunt and listened to arabian music and watched bellydancers. We went to Navy Pier before we came home.

We had a great time and learned a lot of new info and met some great people.

Our Wait Begins

Edit


our baby ladybug our wait begins
our baby ladybug April 27, 2008Our names are Tracey and AJ Vanderpool. We have been married for almost 10 years. We are the proud parents of two wonderful sons. Jackson almost 7 and Colby almost 4. We have decided to expand our family and are in the process of adopting a baby girl from China. This is our adoption story as it unfolds. This process began about 10 months ago with gathering mounds of paperwork. When we started the paperwork the entire process was suppose to take about 2 years. It takes about 6 months to gather your dossier (all of the paperwork) and once your dossier is submitted to China you recieve what is called at log in date (LID). When we started the wait time between recieving your dossier was about 15 months. Buy the time we completed our dossier the wait was up to 22 months. So we still had about a 2 year wait. Once we recieved our LID (January 15, 2008) the wait had increased to 24 months. So we still had 2 years to wait. We just attended an adoption conference in Chicago and we were told the wait is up to 28 monts. We have officially been waiting 4 months so we still have 2 years to wait. I am hoping some day we will have less than 2 years to wait.